good life

Monday, 21 April 2014

The Good Life in Margaret River

More than a year ago we won a trip to Margaret River, Western Australia through our wine shop, First Glass so in March the 4 of us hopped on a plane to Perth (about the same time as MH370 most likely landed in the same area!?).

In 1965 a gent by the name of Dr John Gladstone wrote a report that declared the Margaret River, just south of Perth, had conditions similar to that of the Bordeaux region in France and hence the planting of vines began and is now synonymous with great Cabernet Sauvignon. Margaret River has a much steadier climate than Bordeaux so the vintages are either great or even greater. Only 2006 is deemed a poor vintage, so not a bad run. They also produce exceptional Chardonnays and although I'm not a huge fan of Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon the Margaret River blends are actually rather pleasant, so all in all it's a region that definitely appeals to me!

There are a number of fantastic cellar doors and the level of service as a region is amongst the best we've experienced to date in Australia. Everyone presented their wines in Riedel glasses, and most presented their entire range of wines, even the more expensive reserves.

Here's the list we visited that I'd be happy to recommend:

The well known superstars:
Xanadu, Cullen, Leeuwin Estate, Vasse Felix, Howard Park(prize for most impressive cellar door), Cape Mentelle, Brookland Valley, Juniper, and Voyager Estate

Barrel tasting at Xanadu

On top of the tanks at Xanadu

An enjoyable tasting at Cape Mentelle

The 'finds' - a bit more of a boutique experience (and the reason we go to the wine regions):

1. Brown Hill (which we almost didn't go to, but the Stella Bella people recommended it, which also had some great wines). It was just a corrugated iron shed with a charming proprietor who is an ex Kalgoorlie miner and his winemaking son. They have some amazing Cabernets and also Shiraz Cabernet blends which are mostly 5 star 90+ points from James Halliday. They pretty much only sell at cellar door and mail order but well worth getting your hands on if you can find some.

The 'Flash' cellar door

2) Woodlands, which is once again nothing too flashy, just a tasteful, understated cellar door, with absolute knock out wines

3) Hay Shed Hill, which is now run by the ex winemaker from Howard Park and it was great to have a chat with him about the trials and tribulations of being a winemaker in the area.

4)Last but not least was Pierro, the king of Chardonnays. OMG, what a fabulous wine.

Found this poster at Pierro - beautiful

Note - we visited Moss Wood as well, who have amazing wines, but I wouldn't go out of my way to go back to the cellar door.

Al and I and the wild Indian Ocean

The whole WA area does have the western frontier feel about it. Perth is an amazing city and there were definitely some cool non wine things to do (Mammoth Caves were a real surprise!) and the foodie experiences were pretty up there - every night we split a dozen oysters between the 4 of us and we also discovered fresh figs with jamon/prosciutto and blue cheese. This has now become a favourite.

I'd definitely go back and at some stage, I'd love to take the dogs and spend a few months driving up the coast in a camper van. Western Australia - a cool place worth exploring.

Busselton Jetty - 1.8km long and the longest in the Southern Hemisphere

One of Al's many artistic shots

Prevelly Beach - a famous surfer mecca

Mammoth Caves - one of many limestone caves in Margaret River

Bunker Bay

Painting at Perth Art Gallery

Cool art installation at Perth Art Gallery

Meatballs for breakfast at The Tuck Shop in Perth -
Jo is right, if you put a fried egg on it, anything can be served as breakfast!

Yummy coconut and banana smoothie served up in the coconut

Surf Competition at Scarborough Beach, Perth

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

2005 Pinot Noir Tasting

Every year our friend Curt puts on a very special horizontal tasting of Pinot Noirs.

This year it was the 2005 vintage. According to Curt's notes, it was magnificent in Burgundy (9/10 from Hugh Johnson - the best vintage for a generation) and excellent in Australia (95/100 from James Halliday) and California (97/100 from Dan Berger). The ratings from New Zealand and Italy were a bit more average, but the wines we tasted were pretty special in any case.

It's a real treat to taste a single varietal from a multitude of geographies and a multitude of producers, especially with a bit of age. This year was no exception and interestingly, just because a wine was your favourite one year, doesn't mean its going to be your favourite the following year. But that's only because you get really spoiled for choice - its a tough job comparing great with even greater! This year my pick was a French wine - the Anne-Francoise Gros, Vosne Ronaee Aux Reas.

This is an event worth waiting all year for - Curt goes to great lengths to put these wines in the right order, provide detailed notes and pours his love and passion for wine into the mix. Coupled with great company and great food hosted by great friends (this year at Jo and Elle's) its always the recipe for the perfect wine tasting.

Thanks to everyone for a great day!

This Year's Line Up

Curt at work - with a smile!

Wednesday, 4 December 2013

The Good Life in Sydney - a 'cookbook' weekend

On the top of my list of my favourite 'Good Life' things you'll generally find travel, good food, and sharing great experiences with friends.

The Sydney landmark - unmistakable

A few weeks ago fit the bill perfectly. Not only is Sydney one of my favourite cities, (I lived and worked there during my backpacking days so I guess I'm a bit partial), but it's also home to 3 amazing restaurants for which I have the cookbook, and where we ended up eating at in one weekend! There are plenty of other things to do in Sydney (and the shopping was great) but this trip was really about the food.

Ok, this was no ordinary food weekend. It was for a big birthday and for the last many years Mark and Cath have raved about 'Tetsuya's', one of the world's best restaurants, so 6 months ago we made our reservation (because it pays to book this far in advance!) and organised a whole weekend to Sydney around this 1 meal. Crazy? Yep! But oh so worth it. So Tet's was at the top of the list, but we also made it to Spice Temple and Bather's Pavilion to round out the cookbook trifecta.

In addition to cookbook destinations, we also found another amazing bistro called DOV, which Cath found through her diligent cross referencing of multiple 'best of Sydney' lists.

There was also one other new foodie thing we discovered which deserves a mention and that's the coolest butcher I have seen in a long time that we just stumbled upon in the suburb of Woollahra called 'Victor Churchill'. There was a big, aged, hunk of meat in the window, beautiful butchery inside and a meat smell which cannot be adequately described in this blog and which drew us all inside for a closer look. Unfortunately we had other lunch and dinner plans so we didn't buy anything.....

Cookbook number 1 - Tetsuya for lunch:

Cookbook1: Tetsuya

Tetsuya's was pure magic and food perfection, from the immaculately starched table clothes and waiter's uniforms to the perfectly symmetrical dots decorating the plates on the signature dish of ocean trout, as perfect as the picture in the cookbook. The food was simply extraordinary - art on a plate and not a single piece out of place. Our sommelier was a real star and Cath's desert came complete with gold foil and a candle. It is definitely a special occasion restaurant and the bill for the 9 course degustation with matching wine (or 10 if you want to try the Tasmanian oysters which we did of course) would definitely generously cover the grocery bill for a month. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually thought I got what I paid for.

Cookbook number 2: Neil Perry Balance and Harmony: The Spice Temple for dinner

Cookbook 2: Neil Perry

Balance and Harmony is probably one of the most beautiful cookbooks I have. It comes in a box with a ribbon, the photos are beautiful and it's an experience just to finger through it. We've been to the Spice Temple in Melbourne already but I think the food at the Spice Temple in Sydney was actually better. I really like spicy food, but in Sydney I tasted the food more and not just the chilli. The 'balance' Neil Perry speaks about was somehow better. It is a beautifully dingy, poorly lit space and you could easily imagine being in an opium den somewhere, but the food gives it away.

Cookbook number 3: Serge Dansereau's The Bather's Pavilion, Balmoral Beach.

Cookbook(s)3: Serge

I accidentally bought Serge Dansereau's autobiography a few years ago called 'For the love of good food: a 20 year journey through the Australian food scene'. It was an online purchase that seemed like a cookbook so I was disappointed when an autobiography landed in my mailbox, but I couldn't help reading it - a really interesting story! (Maybe it was his Canadian roots, but that's just by the by...) It was good enough that I also bought the Bather's Pavillion cookbook. In the autobiography he speaks of his project of renovating a run down Bather's Pavilion, so it was really neat to go there on a sunny Sunday morning for brunch. The building is stunningly restored, the food was great and 100's of nippers on the beach really brought what I had read to life.